**** Official Patriots - Broncos Thread ****

[Kneel B4 Zod]

There was lots of early dicussion about this game in the Jags/Pats thread, so I figured I would start this thread up early.

some questions from Myrtle:

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For the sake of discussion.......

Denver's run defense will pretty much do a good job in stopping Pats running game.

Pats run defense (now healthy, jelled & much improved) will do a good job in stopping Broncos running game.

At that point it's passing offense vs. passing offense of both teams.

Who has the advantage then?


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I agree with Myrtle that each team is going to have trouble running in this game. a great running attack vs a great run defense, and an unproven/inconsistent running attack vs a good run defense.

Re: the passing attacks, Brady is obviously much better than Plummer, and the NE set of WR's/TE's is probably a wash against the Denver group. not a big advantage either way. the OL of Denver is better than the NE OL, but the Pats pass rush is much better than Denver's, which was one of the worst in the league.

The defensive backfield of the Pats is much improved, but the edge still needs to go with the Denver unit I think.

I think this matchup, all told, isn't a bad one for the Pats. Belicheck loves to be able to take away one thing from an offense, and if he can do that against the run this week, the Patriots will pull the upset.